


The Ethics of Marriage

by solangeloismyotp



Category: The Mechanisms (Band)
Genre: Ashes and Raphella both appear but not enough to be tagged, Brian forces Jonny to communicate, Fluff, M/M, Marriage, The ethics of having a morality switch, Threats of Violence, canon-typical mentions of violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-29
Updated: 2020-11-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:41:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27771661
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solangeloismyotp/pseuds/solangeloismyotp
Summary: Jonny and Brian get married.  However, Brian's has some questions for Jonny relating to his switch.
Relationships: Drumbot Brian/Jonny d'Ville
Comments: 3
Kudos: 64





	The Ethics of Marriage

Brian stands at the end of the aisle as Raphella fusses with his outfit, her nervous energy manifesting as attention to detail as she straightens his lapels, pokes his hair, and rids his jacket of nonexistent dust. Her wings flutter behind her, not enough to lift her off the ground but enough to openly display her excitement to anyone who knows wing body language. He gently pushes her away and takes in his outfit one last time.

He is wearing a gorgeous navy suit tailored to him that has copper buttons and other detailing that matches his plating. Raph had helped him pick it out, claiming that she had the best fashion sense on the ship. She had done an excellent job. The tailor she had threatened was great at their job, and he looked amazing.

Ashes pops their head around the corner. “It’s time,” they tell them, before heading back into the main part of the church. Raph gives him one last hug, straightens his suit again, and then gives him a little shove towards the aisle before hurrying to her seat at the front with the other Mechs. 

Brian steps into the church for the first time. The light shining through the stained glass covers everything inside with multicolored light, creating beautiful patterns on the walls. The light reflects off his paneling, shifting as he moves and begins to walk down the aisle.

Jonny stands at the altar, fiddling with his sleeve, and Brian thinks that Jonny looks even even better than he does. Jonny’s wearing a tan and white suit abomination had designed himself (with assistance from Ashes). The suit is mainly made from material taken from one of his older but less bloodstained outfits. Around his waist and torso are no less than seven belts, including one that Brian had never even seen before. Despite the obvious fashion crimes, he thought the outfit suited the first mate.

Brian couldn’t take his eyes off Jonny as he approached the first mate. As he got closer, he could begin to make out more of the details Jonny had put into his outfit. Along the edges of his tan jacket, he can see that several small roses had been embroidered. The white shirt Jonny's wearing underneath has minuscule gathers running along the top seam, giving it a ruffled look. Brian couldn’t imagine how long it had taken for Jonny to do all of that by hand, as to his knowledge the first mate didn’t own a sewing machine.

Brian forces himself out of ‘admiring Jonny’s clothes’ mode as he reaches the end of the aisle and moves to stand opposite of Jonny at the front of the church. He gives Jonny a soft smile, wordlessly reassuring him. Jonny looks up at him and grins back at him, before pulling out his gun and turning to the priest.

“Hurry up, or your face will be marrying a bullet.”

The priest’s face drains of color, and they quickly begin reciting the typical speech about love, marriage, and commitment. Jonny, however, is impatient, and cocks the gun, holding it closer to the priest’s head.

“Now, or I shoot you.”

The priest appears to have a reasonable sense of self-preservation, and does so.

“With the power invested in me by-“

“Skip to the good part.” Jonny just sounds bored now, and he’s getting more antsy by the second. He’s fiddling with the trigger of his gun, which is probably not helping the priest’s concentration.

“Do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?”

Jonny stops his fidgeting and looks Brian directly in the eyes. There is something powerful in his voice when he says, “I do.”

The priest turns to Brian and repeats the question.

“I do,” Brian responds, matching Jonny’s gaze. 

“You ready?” Jonny whispers, cutting off the priest as he begins to announce them married. He reaches out and gently brushes his hand down Brian’s arm, picking up his hand and giving it a quick squeeze.

“Yeah,” Brian responds, mentally preparing himself for what he knows is coming.

The only warning Brian gets before the world turns upside down is the gentle touch of Jonny’s other hand against the back of his neck brushing away stray hairs, and then his switch is flipped and the world spins and goes black.

* * *

Brian walks up to the door to Jonny’s room and knocks firmly and quickly on it. The sound of metal on metal rings down the hallway, making Brian flinch. From inside the room, Brian hears a muffled ‘waddya want’.

“I have a question?”

“The door opens to reveal a slightly disheveled Jonny, still slightly hungover from the debauchery that had happened the previous night after Brian and Jonny had revealed their engagement to the rest of the crew.

“Yeah? What about?”

“Can I come in?”

Jonny nods and steps aside to give Brian space to walk into his room. Brian doesn’t get very far, stopping a few feet in when he can no longer see the floor. Jonny hasn’t done much to clean his room since the doc left, which means it is now more clutter than open space. The flat surfaces of his room, including the floor, are covered with piles upon precarious piles of various items, only some of which Brian can recognize. Several different types of guns and other weaponry hang from the ceiling, with only a small gap for light from the overhead fixture to shine through. 

The barest patch in the room is right over the bed, where a small collection of photos is housed. Each of the photos feature different crew members in various different situations: at gigs, playing pranks on each other, committing murders, and just living. It's the only truly sentimental Jonny allows to show.

Jonny walks right past Brian, stepping on the piles of junk without consideration to flop onto his bed. He shuffles over to make room for Brian to sit next to him but looks up confusedly when he doesn’t. Brian just sighs and tries to pick his way across the floor while trying to avoid the majority of the random items that Jonny’s decided belong on the floor.

When he reaches the bed, Brian sits down next to Jonny and takes a deep breath.

“You know about my morality switch, right?”

“Of course.” Jonny’s brow furrows, and the confused look on his face is honestly a little adorable. If they were in a different situation, Brian would tell him so, but he needs to remain on topic for this.

“Do you think EjM me and MjE me are two different people?” At that, Jonny looks even more confused and holds up one finger to let Brian know he’s processing. Unfortunately, it’s the middle finger, but Brian would expect nothing less from him. So he waits, lets Jonny consider what he just said, and tries not to worry about his response.

After a full minute of silence, Jonny speaks.

“No..?” He says hesitantly. “At least I don’t think so. You retain your memories, right?” 

Brian nods. 

“Then I don’t see why you shouldn’t be. If you think and remember like one person and you’re in just one body, shouldn’t you be one person?” Jonny seems genuinely befuddled by Brian's question.

“But I feel like a completely different person depending on which mode I’m on. The whole basis on which I see the world is flipped, and I react differently to even the smallest of things," Brian explains.

“Well if you feel like different people I guess you are? I don’t know, go bother someone else with this introspective crap. It makes my head hurt. I’m gonna take a nap.” With that, Jonny flops face-first into the tangled mess of blankets and pillows piled on top of his bed and buries himself in it.

“I’ve actually got one more thing I want to talk with you about.”

A groan emanates from within the blanket horde. Brian laughs at his fiancé’s antics.

“It’s relevant, I promise.”

Another groan, but this time Jonny pulls himself back up to face Brian. He affixes Brian with a glare because he had the audacity to bother him when he was so clearly napping.

Brian doesn't notice Jonny‘s glare, because he’s staring at the wall across from the bed. Or rather, at the poster on the wall. It’s an old one, from one of the gigs they played centuries ago on a planet whose name Brian has long forgotten. He looks back over at Jonny and speaks.

“I was wondering, maybe it would be a good idea to have both MjE and EjM agree.” Jonny just stares at him, so Brian adds “for the wedding.”

“Why?” Jonny seems genuinely confused.

“I don’t think it would feel right, otherwise. It’s just that these are two major parts of myself, and like it or not, they’re drastically different. Opposites, in fact.”

Jonny snorts at that. “Really? I never would have guessed.”

“Oh, shut up.” Brian swats at him, barely missing as he dodges with the accuracy only decades of practice can bring.

“Seriously, though. Would you be ok with me agreeing twice? I wanted to make sure you knew and were ok with it beforehand.”

Jonny looks down at his hands in his lap, picking at the skin around his nails.

“Would it make you feel better?” he asks, quietly enough that Brian almost doesn’t hear him.

“Yeah. Yeah, I think it would.”

“Ok. We can do that, then," Brian says. "Do you want to flip my switch for it?”

Jonny looks up at Brian, eyes wide. “Me?”

Brian smiles. “Yeah, you. You’d be closest to me, after all. And I am getting married to you.”

“But all the times I’ve-“

“I trust you not to mess this up, Jonny," Brian says reassuringly. "Do you think you can do this for me?”

“I-yeah. I think I can.”

“Thank you, love. C’mere?”

Brian holds his arms open for a hug, and Jonny accepts grudgingly. But no matter how much he grumbles, Brian doesn't miss how Jonny practically melts against him as he holds the first mate close. He presses a kiss against Jonny’s hair and smiles. He can’t wait until they get planetside.

* * *

Brian blinks his eyes open a moment later to see Jonny looking at him. He feels Jonny brush a strand of hair out of his face.

“You back?”

“Yeah.” Brian smiles softly back at him, taking in the sight of his soon-to-be husband. He straightens up from where he had hunched over when his switch had been flipped, and says confidently, “I do.”

When the priest doesn’t say anything, Jonny moves his hand to hover threateningly over his holster.

“You - you may kiss the groom.”

Jonny smirks, and they lean towards each other. As they share a quick kiss, the rest of the Mechs cheer and whistle at them from the front row of pews. Pulling away, Brian looks out at his family.

Impatient as always, Jonny grabs Brian’s hand and begins to pull him down the aisle. Brian stumbles and almost falls down the stairs before Jonny rights him with a hand on his chest. With that, the two of them run out of the church, into the sunlight of the planet they’ve chosen and their newly defined life together, followed by the rest of their family.

Later, law enforcement officials on the planet would be thoroughly confused by a string of violent murders with no clear culprits. They wouldn’t be confused long, however, as the planet mysteriously exploded only a few weeks later. At the time, the closest ship to the planet was an old Cyberian battle cruiser, and on it a newly wedded couple who had thoroughly enjoyed their honeymoon.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! This is my first Mechanisms fic, and I hope you enjoyed it! If you did, please leave a kudos and/or a comment. They really make my day!


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